M M Jasim :Thousands of people thronged the Kamlapur Railway Station to buy advance Eid tickets, sale of which officially began on Thursday. Like every year, holidaymakers gathered from Wednesday night at Kamalapur railway station. The queue became longer after Sehri.The scenario was almost same at other stations of Dhaka city. Md Anwar Hossain, came to Kamlapur Railway Station on Wednesday evening. He waited for about 14 hours to get tickets. “I failed to manage a ticket last year. I suffered worse to reach my home. I did not want to face same fate this year also. That is why I came here in the evening,” he said. This year, the pressure on railways is apparently high, as people have been preferring train journey because of severe traffic jam on the highways. And so, the battle for train tickets was really tough. Several ticket seekers said the advance tickets for all regular train routes, including Dhaka-Chittgong and Dhaka-Sylhet, just bubbled up within two hours of opening the counters.Maksudul Islam, who hails from Dinajpur, was in line from around the same time and was ecstatic when he secured the tickets. “We only go home twice every year. All of us will celebrate Eid together, so the hassle is worth it.”Manager of Kamalapur Railway Station, Shitangshu Chakravarty, told The New Nation that adequate law enforcers were deployed there to prevent irregularities.Meanwhile, Bangladesh Railway (BR) will provide 14 special train services across the country for the home-goers in a bid to make travel easier for passengers during the rush of Eid-ul-Fitr. Railway Minister Mujibul Haque said while briefing the media at Kamlapur Railway Station on Thursday morning.He said, “Around 2.5 lakh passengers will be travelling by the train during the Eid, 50,000 on each day from Dhaka.”Talking about the schedule disruption, he said, “Usually the trains in Paksey division miss schedule. But this time we are doing our best to ensure improve the timing.”The minister also said 270 bogies will be added to Bangladesh Railway next year to make travel easier for passengers during Eid. The railway authorities started selling tickets around 9:00am for July 13. The tickets for July 14-17 will be sold from July 10 to 13 at Kamalapur and Chittagong railway stations, said railway officials.Return tickets for July 20 and 21 will be available on July 16 and 17. Tickets for July 22-23 will go on sale on July 19, while that for July 24 on July 20.The Eid is expected on July 18 and all the ticket outlets will remain closed that day. Return tickets will also be available at Rajshahi, Khulna, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Lalmonirhat railway stations. A passenger will be able to buy maximum four tickets. Of the total tickets, 25 percent will be sold online.Around 40,000 tickets will be released for sale daily in advance at Kamalapur Railway Station, said railway officials.The authorities will include 169 additional passenger coaches in the service to cope with the Eid rush.Besides, five additional special trains will be added daily to the existing 64 trains in Dhaka.Railway ministry officials claimed that on average around 1.80 lakh people travel by train across the country every day. Because of the additional arrangement, the railway’s daily capacity of carrying passengers will be increased to around 2.50 lakh. On the other hand, Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) will start selling advance tickets for Eid holidaymakers from today (Friday) ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.BRTC tickets will be available at Motijheel, Kalyanpur, Gabtali, Mohammadpur, Mirpur Double Decker Bus Depot, Gazipur Bus Dipot, Narayanganj Bus Dipot and Dhaka’s Phulbaria CBA-2. According to a circular of BRTC, home-bound passengers would be given special services from July 14 to July 20 ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. Meanwhile, BRTC has opened a help desk at head office to facilitate the passengers. Phone number of help desk is 9564361 and mobile-01818202186.
